Brunswick, is a beautiful place. Surrounded by water and salt marshes. Beautiful sunsets can be marveled at from Mary Ross Park. The Brunswick Marina with its new slips offer a quiet enclave for the weary boater who is traveling the ICW and need a brief stop. Downtown Brunswick is quiet and charming. Good food at Christi's, The Pearl, Cargo Port-side Grille, and Fox's Den Pizza makes a nice date night or luncheon. The newly constructed Three River's Library and renovated Ritz Theater serve as cultural hubs for the community as a whole. Public works are even installing new fountains in the vacant squares between the brownstone inspired buildings of downtown. But as one drives north is the legal district. Standing like a sentinel is the newly built Harold Pate Building where we locals go pay property taxes, get tags for our cars, and perform other governmental transactions. To the left of the Pate building is the jail. Although the Glynn County Correctional facility is not esthetically an eye sore. The mere fact of its current location is what bothers most residents and adding to the fact that its now time to expand the jail. There are good arguments for both sides of this debate. The County Commissioners argue that it is more cost effective to expand the jail at its current location. Their plan is to either voluntarily purchase the needed property for the expansion or utilize the powers of eminent domain to acquire the property for the expansion. The points that the county commission taut is that by keeping the jail where it is and expanding you are keeping the prisoners close to the courthouse, therefore not having to pay for the security and transportation of inmates to and fro. The "move the jail"(MTJ) advocates argue that the county paid over a quarter of a million dollars to a consulting firm that advised the county to expand the jail in the public works location on a 14 acre tract approximately 15 minutes away for the current facility. The MTJ also argue that even if the county commission expand the jail at the downtown site, it too will be over capacity within 10 years and the need to further expand will be needed, at least on the 14 acre site currently owned by the county there's room for further expansion at later dates. But the biggest argument the MTJ advocate is that the current jail site is prime property that could be used in a more productive way for the community's benefit. Like I stated earlier, Brunswick is a beautiful place. But it is my belief that our city and county planners didn't take the time to plan the city/county for future generations and this way of doing business has trickled down generation to generation to our current county commission. Those in power look at what can be done today for whats happening in their life time. They don't take in to account the future generations to come. And this brings me to the most important point of this rant. After attending a county commission meeting in Feb, the commission basically told the public that they would be moving full steam head on the jail expansion in the current location. It dawned on me that in order for change to occur one must get involved in the process early. Maybe if i had been to the first meeting when the county commissioners were in the initial phase of deciding what to do with the jail i might could have prevented what is happening now. But until the fat lady belts that final note. I'm joining the MTJ and yelling to the top of my lungs "MOVE THE JAIL!!!! MOVE THE JAIL!!!!
HARRIETTE
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